Daily Dothttp://www.dailydot.com/Daily Dot Articleen-usWed, 11 Jul 2012 18:46:02 +0000Russia's Internet blacklist bill passes, despite protestshttp://www.dailydot.com/news/russia-blacklist-bill-89417-6-protest/<p><img src='http://cdn0.dailydot.com/cache/17/4e/174ee61f61a4a774b0cb316f13e34c83.jpg'></p><p>
In the United States, when you black out major websites to protest legislation that could hurt the Internet, lawmakers listen.</p>
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In Russia, though, the lawmakers black out you.</p>
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Russian parliament approved a contentious new censorship bill, Bill 89417-6, on Wednesday. Ostensibly a means of blacklisting of Russian domains that promote illegal activity, it would allow the government to shut down websites if they don&rsquo;t remove offending material within 24 hours of receiving a warning. Sites that include child pornography, instructions on how to commit suicide, or drug propaganda, however, don&rsquo;t get that due process.</p>
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However, a number of websites popular in Russia, including Wikipedia, LiveJournal, and Yanex, the country&rsquo;s largest search engine, said the bill would simply allow the government to squash other websites it doesn&rsquo;t like.</p>
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To that end, those sites <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/news/russian-wikipedia-blackout-censorship/">went on strike Tuesday</a>, directing all visitors to a message that warned that their Internet freedom was in danger.</p>
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It was reminiscent of American sites going on strike in January to <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/news/internet-going-strike-protest-sopa-and-pipa/">protest the Stop Online Piracy Act</a> (SOPA), which, under the guise of squashing copyright infringement, also threatened to censor much of the Internet. Wikipedia was among the most popular sites to shield its content for a day, and the event led to lawmakers permanently shelving SOPA.</p>
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But such a protest simply didn&rsquo;t sway the Russian parliament.</p>
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Gennady Gudkov, a member of parliament under the Just Russia party, called the governing body &ldquo;a secretarial office that carries out somebody else&#39;s wishes,&rdquo; <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5geli9TJRqx7ynOCUA01YqHhifOYQ">according</a> to Agence France-Presse.</p>
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&ldquo;The goal of the bill is to wipe out dissent in our country,&rdquo; said another member of parliament, Anatoly Lokot of the Communist Party.</p>
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The bill doesn&rsquo;t become law until President Vladimir Putin signs it, but there&rsquo;s little doubt he will.</p>
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Putin has a reputation for supporting legislation that would stifle his critics. Earlier this year, he approved a measure that raised the fine for unauthorized protests against the government from $160 to $32,000.</p>
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<em>Photo by by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/max_trudolubov/">max_trudo</a></em></p>
kcollier@dailydot.com (Kevin Collier)Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:46:02 +0000http://www.dailydot.com/news/russia-blacklist-bill-89417-6-protest/NewsLayer 8